With the ever-increasing variety of communication channels available, it has become increasingly valuable to select channel(s) by which the utility of communications between contactees and contactors can be maximized. The utility of a communication can be measured by examining a variety of factors like cost and value. Communicating parties have available diverse communication choices that include, but are not limited to, computer based communication (e.g., instant messaging, on-line chat, text email, voice email, voice over IP (VOIP), collaborative editing, webcam conversations), telephone based communication (e.g., cell phone, satellite phone, personal digital assistant (PDA) phone, Internet telephony, plain old telephone system (POTS)) and face to face communication (e.g., personal meeting, video conferencing). Thus, communicating parties are faced with the daunting task of selecting a best possible means to communicate among a plurality of communication options.
Conventionally, a single channel (e.g., long distance POTs telephone call) communication may be routed based on factors like load, but such load-balancing methods typically do not account for other factors that may influence the reliability of a communication channel and thus the likelihood that the communication may be degraded. By way of illustration, the likelihood that a communication will suffer degradation may depend on a factor like the duration of the communication. For example, an hour long cellular telephone call may be more likely to suffer from degradation than a one minute cellular telephone call based on factors like the increased probability that the cellular phone will transit a cellular dead zone and/or the increased probability that the cellular phone battery will run out of power. Conventional cellular telephone routing algorithms may account for load balancing factors but typically do not account for other factors (e.g., predicted transit route, predicted length) that may influence the likelihood that a communication will be degraded.
Furthermore, security issues introduce another parameter in selecting a communication channel. A communication that is difficult to compromise (e.g., intercept, decipher, alter), for example a 128 bit, public/private key encrypted email, or a frequency agile, multi-mode encryption radio signal, may be considered more reliable than one that is more easily compromised (e.g., clear text email, single frequency cellular call). Thus, the task of communicating parties in choosing a “best” communication channel is even more complicated by security considerations.
Conventionally, a contactor had limited means, if any, to determine which, if any, communication method(s) would be best to communicate with a contactee. Similarly, a contactee had limited contact control methods. In view of at least the above, there is a strong need in the art for a system and/or methodology to facilitate selecting an optimal communication channel given a particular set of parameters.